After logging almost five years in Cincinnati, and coming from a region so utterly (and painfully) dependent on the automobile and freeways, it is still amazing to be able to move into an affordable city with such diverse and dynamic neighborhoods within ten miles and less of downtown, all with a seemingly abundant stock of historic preserved architecture, gas lit streets, thriving localized commercial districts, and lush park-like settings.  While many other cities have areas like this, they oftentimes refer to them as “suburbs.”

Many commentators attempt to paint this city with a pretty broad brush (‘it’s conservative,” it’s boring,” “um…did I tell you it’s conservative?”), however we have found our neighborhood of North Avondale to be incredibly diverse based on any metric you might care to examine.  I realize that is not the case everywhere in the city, but I also know that this is not an isolated example, and I am still surprised as to how this message is continually drowned out by the tired old knee-jerk mantras that seem hopelessly outdated in modern-day Cincinnati.  It still confounds me how many out of town friends who have never been here mention the Mapplethorpe imbroglio as an ice breaker.  What this tells me is how few people really know this city.  Moreover, many of these people actually live in the region.  That’s why a Soapbox is as good a place as any to spread the word.

During our relatively short time here, the incredible wealth of arts and culturally diverse activities, coupled with the sustained progress downtown, all within a five or so mile radius from our home, has continually left me slack-jawed in amazement.  My older son goes to a phenomenal public high school (Walnut Hills) ranked in the top 35 in the nation, and only two miles from our driveway.  My younger son goes to a neighborhood Montessori school ("The New School") which is even closer to our home and is truly a gem in the city.  The nearby and much sought after public Montessori elementary school just down the street is also very highly regarded.   These are major Q of L factors, and coming from a region where even the most mundane of quotidian routines required an automobile expedition along the likes of the Paris-Dakar rally, any opportunity to spend less time in the car is a very good thing.   Moreover, as discussed in greater detail in last week’s Soapbox [link], some now contend that the precipitous rise in gas prices has helped to make the investment in a  home in the city more attractive vis-à-vis the suburbs.

Oftentimes, when speaking to friends and colleagues from Detroit (or New York or Chicago, for that matter), I refer to Cincinnati as “the 10 Minute Miracle.”  Coming from the Metroit area, where a trip almost anywhere (work, schools, dry cleaner, bathroom) entailed untold hours in the car, I have now found that, from my centrally located neighborhood, I can literally be almost anywhere in basically 10 minutes or less… truly a revolutionary concept that should not be diminished.

I must admit,  while we would never consider moving out any further than the “far flung suburbs” of North Avondale (at least that is how it was considered in the 1890’s), we can clearly envision moving much closer to downtown.  Moreover, with the (hopeful) advent of the much ballyhooed streetcars, the ability to convert to as car-free a lifestyle as possible would be a monumental advancement for the city as well as the entire region.

On that point, the recent streetcar debates at city council revealed telling loyalties in a city which can, at times, appear to be made up of 52 widely divergent interests.  Indeed, advocates for one neighborhood appear to view an investment in downtown and OTR as taking away their neighborhood’s slice of the pie, kind of like a reverse-NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome.  While this type of myopic thinking is, regrettably, oftentimes an impediment to real progress, to use an oft-repeated maxim of politics generally attributed to the late Tip O’Neill, “all politics is local,” and with 52 different neighborhoods, Cincinnati has a whole lot of “local.”   Nevertheless, navigating such obstacles, while at times Byzantine, is not impossible, and, for example, the recent and modest success in the streetcar debate demonstrates what can be accomplished with capable leadership and vision.  In any event, (I see my time is up…the red light is blinking), I will try to touch upon this in greater detail in my next post.